Archaeologists Uncover 2,000-Year-Old Village Hidden In A Forest

Archaeologists uncovered an ancient village dating back almost 2,000 years hidden in the dense forest in the northern part of Poland. Surprisingly enough, the village was completely intact and is believed to be the first of its kind ever to be discovered in all of Europe. It was found in the very dense forests in the region of Bory Tucholskie which is one of the less explored areas by archaeologists.

The discovery of the ancient village included buildings, homesteads, boundary strips, and roads. Mateusz Sosnowski, who is an archaeologist from the NCU (Nicolaus Copernicus University) Institute of Archaeology in Toruń, provided further details on the discovery, “It was a great surprise to discover there not only individual elements of a former settlement, but also its surroundings: fields surrounding the hamlet, traces of single homesteads and even tracts connecting them probable with other settlements.”

Forest in Poland

Sosnowski, along with another researcher named Jerzy Czerniec, believe that the settlement dates back to the first centuries of the modern era.

While the majority of discoveries include only individual findings of ancient settlements, such as the remains of an old building, etc…, this discovery is quite unique. “Here we have an entirely different situation,” Sosnowski explained, “We have tracked down unknown traces of an ancient Bory Tucholskie settlement. It’s not a matter of one house or a fragment of a settlement. We have an entire estate together with its surrounding farmland in the form of fields and pastures, where all the elements come from the same period. It’s unique!”

The ancient village was found by using Aerial Laser Scanning (ALS) which researchers use quite often. Since the forests are so dense, the village would have been invisible from the ground, and that’s why the discovery using the extremely thorough ALS is such an incredible find. The settlement, as well as the surrounding farmland, covered more than 170 hectares of land.

Forest in Poland

Quite a few of the archaeological discoveries that have been previously found around the Polish village are thought to be from the modern era or maybe even during the Middle Ages. Sosnowski described the formation of the newly discovered ancient village by saying, “Their shape brings to mind the three-field system of farming, known in Poland only from the Middle Ages. Was it already in use several hundred years earlier? We hope our research will answer that question.”

Jocelyne LeBlanc works full time as a writer and is also an author with two books currently published. She has written articles for several online websites, and had an article published in a Canadian magazine on the most haunted locations in Atlantic Canada. She has a fascination with the paranormal and ghost stories, especially those that included haunted houses. In her spare time, she loves reading, watching movies, making crafts, and watching hockey.